This clan is an offshoot of the Kuudrol, from which it has now for a long time been separated. The division arose out of a quarrel at a council which was once being held at Kuudr.[4] There were three parties in the naim, each wishing that a different ceremony should be performed. One party wished to give salt to the buffaloes, a second wanted to sacrifice a calf (erkumptthpimi), and a third were in favour of moving to another village (irskidthtothi). The three parties could not agree, and it was finally decided that those who wished to do irskidthtothi should separate from the rest. They did so and went to live near Kwòdrdoni, and have since been a separate clan, now known as the Pedrkarsol. The people who wished to do erkumptthpimi were the ancestors of Tövoniners, and it is in consequence of this quarrel that this family occupies its anomalous position and has no place at Kuudr.
At the same time the people of Pedrkars lost the privilege of being palol or wursol, but they may become eligible by performing the irnörtiti ceremony at Kuudr or Kiudr. [[676]]
For some time after the separation intermarriage was not allowed between Kuudr and Pedrkars, but recently such marriages have taken place, and several are recorded in the genealogies.
There are very few members of the clan, only seven males and five females. At present there is only one kudr and this has only one pòlm. Formerly there were two kudr, but one became extinct some time ago.
About three generations ago there was a quarrel between the people of Pedrkars and those of Piedr. A man of Pedrkars named Kavanadi had married a woman of Piedr and one day quarrelled with his wife’s father. At Piedr there were at the entrance of the buffalo-pen two large wooden posts (tüli). After the quarrel Kavanadi went to Piedr and carried off both the posts with the wooden bars (tasth) by which the opening of the pen is closed. When Kavanadi had carried the posts and bars as far as a place called Kalin, near the Kota village of Tizgudr, a stone on the top of one of the tüli fell down. It may still be seen and is known as Kalinkars. Kavanadi went on, but he soon began to spit blood, and when he had gone some way further, he was obliged to drop the tüli at a place which is now called Tülipudinpem. He managed to reach his home at Pedrkars and then died. A council was held and it was decided that marriage should not be allowed in future between the Piedrol and Pedrkarsol, and no such marriages are recorded in the genealogies.
The stone called Kalinkars which fell by the way is now said to be able to move about and may be seen one day at one spot and on another day at another. The Kotas of Tizgudr have several times taken the stone to their village, but it has always gone back again. In spite of his unfortunate end, Kavanadi is regarded, more or less, as a hero by the Todas and is mentioned in the funeral eulogy of Pidrvan (p. 387).
All the villages of the Pedrkarsol are in the part of the hills near Kwòdrdoni. Pedrkars itself is said to have been at one time a ti mad. Some Tamil people once came to the hills and found some of the buffaloes of the ti standing by a [[677]]swamp. The Tamils fired at the buffaloes and one was killed. When the palol saw this, he cursed, saying “pedr kars ama, kwòdr nòdr ama!” “may the Tamil stone become; may the ti place an ordinary place become!” Then the people who had killed the buffalo became stones and the buffaloes were taken by the palol to the ti mad of Kakwai. The people who had separated from Kuudr had before this been living at Pongudr, but when the ti mad was deserted they went to live there, and the place was called Pedrkars in consequence of the curse of the palol and the clan has since taken its name from this village.
Kulhem
This clan appears to occupy the same kind of inferior position among the Teivaliol as that taken by the Kidmadol among the Tarthar clans. The Kulhemol are not allowed to sit on the meitün (right-hand side) of a dairy, and they are not allowed to perform the ordination ceremony with tudr bark, which cuts them off from holding the offices of palol, kaltmokh, or wursol.
There was some difference of opinion about the cause of the inferior position of Kulhem. According to one account the people separated from Kuudr at the same time as the Pedrkarsol and for the same reason. According to another account, when Teikirzi was dividing the buffaloes, she left Kulhem till last, intending to give them a good portion. When she was about to give the people of this clan their buffaloes, the invaders came who have been mentioned in the story of Teikirzi (p. 187). After the invaders had been turned to stone, Teikirzi returned to her task of giving buffaloes to Kulhem, but she came to the conclusion that the clan was in some way responsible for the misfortune which had happened, and she gave them no sacred buffaloes and only a few putiir, and she enjoined that they should not be ordained with tudr. It seems, however, that the Kulhemol resemble the Pedrkarsol in becoming eligible for the office of palol if they do irnörtiti to Kuudr.